Can intelligence improve with age
Researchers have discovered that the brain, like the rest of the body, needs activities to stay fit. The more active the brain is, the less aging will be and it is never too late to learn new things. Brain stimulant can be done in various ways, best of all through exploring natural resource, creativity and art of all kind. Older people can sometimes suffer their short-term memories. However, once new material has been learned, they can do as well as their younger colleagues at remembering it. To acquire new information, the best way is to activate their long memories. To do that, the aged people must be allowed to discover new materials at their own pace. The less outside interference, the better it would be. Says one retiree who started his own company at the age of 65: "God has given us certain talents and he gave them to us to use. Skillful artists have greater activation in the right frontal area of the brain than the beginner, which indicates that such artists use higher order cognitive functions, such as the formation of associations and planning motor movements, when viewing their objects while drawing, painting or composing.
Creativity is a phenomenon whereby, something new and valuable is created which includes a new idea, make a joke, artistic work, a painting, creative communication, musical composition, a solution or even an invention etc. Psychologists Sigmund Freud and William James have recognized the importance of studying the creative process to include multitude of definitions and approaches involving several disciplines such as psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy of science, technology, sociology, linguistics and song writing. Findings that there is a relationship between creativity and general intelligence, mental and neurological processes associated with creativity. As well, there is a relationship between personality type and creative ability and between creativity and mental health and the learning and teaching process.
A creative person focuses more on nature and is considers more of general intellectual habits, such as openness, flexibility, self-sufficiency, boldness expertise and exploratory behavior flourishes. These gained skills and attributes increase brain activities and decrease aging.
It has been found that old age can be a time of great intellectual growth and achievement. Several well-known artists and business professionals have done their best work after the age of 60. The famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe took up pottery in her late eighties when her eyesight became too weak for painting. The brilliant pianist Vladimir Horowitz was not pleased with his performance at the age of 78. He retired and started to work on his technique. At the age of 81, he made a triumphant return to the concert stage. At age 80, the Spanish painter Goya drew a picture of a very old man with the inscription: "I am still learning."
Apparently, creativity and art work equal to sirtuin which has been implicated in influencing a wide range of cellular processes like aging, inflammation and stress resistance, as well as energy efficiency.
Artists are too, still learning about the wonderful creation and the more we learn, the more will believe in creation and its creator while keeping young.
©Mona Youssef - Realist fine artist
